New World Update
by Eighth Vice
Summary: An alternative universe story featuring Virtual and Augmented reality technology. All characters and plot are original. I hope you all enjoy this story as much as or even more than SAO. The two universes share similar gameplay mechanics but above all else this story will stray to be original works.
1. Chapter 1: New Age

March 26th, 2036 A.D.

Glancing at my bedside table clock, it showed that I slept for about twelve hours, thankfully it was Saturday and I could afford the gained sleep. Jumping out of my soft bed, I grabbed and put on my gold watch, walked out the moderately sized bedroom. Next I changed out of my black pajamas into a dark grey military camouflage t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, and walked to the washroom where I brushed my teeth and wiped my face. I swept my black bangs to the sides of my head and my top hair towards the back of my head, but no matter how hard I tried there would always be some strands that would go against my brushing. I walked past the white walls of my house, down the luscious wooden staircase, and into the living room. Seeing that my little sister Hikari was already up drinking her red tea and watching her usual anime. She was dressed in her white pajamas with brown cat's designs all over it. "I see you are still into anime." I commented. Full name: Hikari Fujimoto, short bangs in front, and metallic gold hair that slowly transitioned to a yellow-ish autumn as it reached down to her shoulder blades. Had we been standing back to back, the top of her head would be at my eye level. Yet she was probably as physically fit as me when I her age, despite being a girl.

"Of course I am, you want to watch it with me?" She asked me with her upturned azure blue eyes, resembling a puppy.

"Nah, I really like watching anime, but that one is just not I would watch you know?" I said with a wry smile on my face.

"But come on nii-saaaan, we barely do anything together anymore…"

"I have kendo practice today, sorry."

She frowned and responded with, "But you better come to my dance recital tomorrow."

"Don't worry, I'll be there for your recital, besides everyone will be there so I can't afford to miss it for the world." I said with a determined face.

With that sentence my sister's lips went straight into an adorable smile, and went happily back to her anime. I went to the doorway, put on my street shoes, grabbed my kendo equipment, opened the door, and left the house. The outside of our house was both traditional as well as modern in the manner that it had a thatched roof, and the doors had a modern aluminum doors in front of a fabric door that had wooden shingles in a square pattern grid. We lived in the outskirts 25km from the city of Tokushima, Japan, which is basically a suburban area.

My name is Kawamura Shun, entering my first year of high school. I frequently take Kendo classes and weapons training from a local temple. You might wonder why my last name was different to my sister, it was due to the fact that my parents were always on business trips and as a result I had to live with my cousin Hikari's family. Mom and Dad were out of the house and my life about eighty percent of the time since they often had to deal with clients and business meetings. Even so I appreciate the gifts and occasional cash rewards for preforming well in school and my kendo competitions. Today the morning sun gave off a bright radiance while the friendly townsfolk greeted me with hellos. Arriving at the dojo I quickly changed into my training gear. The dojo still had a traditional design despite that the year is 2036 C.E, something I still enjoy looking at since these buildings are so rare in Japan nowadays. Also it was similar in size to two school classrooms but decorated with interweaving wood shingles and fabric walls, and smooth wooden floors. It was perched on a mountain's back and was built beside a small stream where I always enjoyed a nice soak after a tough practice. For most practices I would take up a few rounds, rest up, and go on for a few more. In the dojo I was a mere student, nothing more, nothing less. I took up the sport solely because it gave me the feeling of what a swordsman or warrior, probably from all the role-playing games that I play in my spare time. In the three years that I have entered this dojo, I met Ichijou and Illiesse. Both were great kendo-ka and helped me to become one of the top students. Ichijou was a tall and well-built man who could be described as a gentle giant, especially with his "Chiselled features". He was kind, dedicated, strong, and always looking out for others, especially the newbies. Sometimes however I felt that he is often too "friendly" with everyone, which often resulted in some awkward situations. Whereas Illiese was a brown cherry haired girl who always seemed to stand out no matter what she was doing because of her strong determination to reach higher heights. While being so masterful at kendo, she has a powerful commanding presence, almost as if to balance out Ichijou's passive personality. Also she is quite social when she is not in front of everyone in the dojo due to the fact she is so mainstream with almost everything. Last year she made it to the nationals for Kendo. Appearance-wise she has a slightly tanned and slender body which was also quite physically fit due to all the effort she puts into the sport. All three of us met each other in middle school and became close schoolmates, but over the years those two have become almost as close as BFF's while I was third wheeling in most situations. Speaking of which I would not be surprised if Illiesse only saw me as a tool now, since she pushes her expectations of Ichijou onto me as well since we had known each other the longest within the dojo. If the three of us were taking part in a test of swordsmanship, those two would have left me in the dust.

As I was striding through the dojo doors I see many faces stop and stare, after a quick glance they returned to their activities. Ichijou walked up to me and punches me in the shoulder, something I just smile at.

"Where's Illiesse?" I asked as I stared into the distance

Ichijou responded "She is still recovering from a cold, but she called me last night and told me that she is going to try her best to it make to Hikari's recital."

"Hope she gets better soon." I said with a blank face

"Yeah, me too." With a hopeful expression

Even though I said it, I meant none of it.

Ichijou leaves to instruct the newbies while I went and practiced with the juniors. After practice I left the dojo, walked to the stream, and washed the sweat off my face. I began to think of what to make for dinner as Ichijou walked to my side. He reaches to down to splash some water on his face as he squats next to me.

"So how's being a senior member?" I ask.

"Well it's probably not what you think it would be. There is so much more work than you would have as a junior." Sighing heavily, Ichijou stood up and jogged back to the dojo.

"Well then I wish you the best of luck." I gave him words of encouragement as I stood back up.

After another hour of kendo, I packed up my equipment and left the dojo. So far in my life I always had an above average aptitude for many different skills nonetheless I was never the best in what I do. But even so I take pleasure in doing so, especially when playing video games. As I walked down the hill, the setting sun had changed the sky changed into a beautiful red and orange dusk. I slowly transitioned to a jog then to a run since I was so anxious to get back home so I can get the most time out of the weekend for gaming. These days, augmented or virtual reality games are one of the most popular genres despite they only made their first appearance just a few years ago. For me I really enjoyed playing RPGs or role playing games, it didn't matter whether if it is MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online) or just single player RPGs. As I walked on the street I passed by Illiesse's house, and approached her front door. I hesitated and couldn't convince myself to ring her doorbell and talk to her, thus I continued on my path home.

Recently there was news confirming that New World was going to be released as a VR game today with the utilization of the Mind Reader, a technological marvel which was rumored the latest generation gaming machine. *Sigh* Looking towards the sky 'If only gaming was one of those things that helped you to be better in life.'

When I had returned back home, Hikari had already left for her dress rehearsal. I then wondered why her mom wasn't home 'Oh yeah, she said she had to do overtime today.' As I stepped into the house, I quickly ran upstairs, turned on my computer and began to download the New World update for my Mind Reader that I bought recently. While it was updating, I went downstairs into the kitchen when suddenly I heard a strange noise in the garden similar to a loud crash. I opened the sliding window door and walked out to the backyard to see a fallen tree. 'That's strange I don't think there were any loggers working nearby….' I then quickly scanned my surroundings and I managed to spot a pair of red glowing dots in the darkness. I then yelled out a "Hello?" but there was no answer, instead the pair of red dots slowly approached me menacingly. As it moved into the light, it appeared to be a mantis-like creature with scythes for arms. It was about four meters tall and had a grey sheen on its body, but somehow it looked awfully familiar. I just stood there with awe-stricken eyes when a chill had ran down my back and thought 'What is that?' The thing was about five meters away from me when it raised its scythe arm, I then panicked and ran into the surrounding forest.


	2. Chapter 2: New Game

I ran into the forest surrounding my house. By this time the forest would be so dark you could barely see a tree's silhouette three meters in front of you, however the trees in the forest were sparsely populated, and the moonlight made it just bright enough to be navigated. Luckily for me I knew my way around the forest like the back of my hand. I sprinted to distance myself and leaped behind a tree. Luckily the monster ran straight past me without batting an eye.

"Phew, just what was that...?" I said. I then stood up and began to run back to the house, but because I averting my eyes to my back, I bumped into a large furry object. Looking up from my spot on the ground I saw an animal that resembled a wild boar but it was abnormally big. As it stared down at me with its red angry eyes it blew a puff of air out of its snout.

I quickly rolled back on my feet and ran around the creature while trying to avoid its tusks, 'aaand we are back to the chasing game again...' I thought in my head. To calm my state of mind, I took a deep breath and began to think on what to make of this situation as well as keeping my situational awareness. The boar was surprising fast and by judging the sound of its hooves I knew it would eventually catch up to me in a few seconds, but as I was running my watch began to flash continuously. Suddenly an orange holographic display slid to my bottom right field of vision. I thought 'What the hell is this?' The floating orange window started to display words as I kept running to keep my distance away from the "enraged boar". The boar caught up as I predicted, ran past me, and began to charge at me from the opposite direction. The holographic window then read 'to summon your weapon you must first activate your Arkkle to link yourself to the world.' I then frantically searched for an 'Arkkle Device'. My watch started to flash continuously with a blue glow, but before I could activate it, the boar had struck the right side of my body.

After being hit, I was knocked to the ground as the boar kept on charging past me. "Owwww…." After learning from my earlier mistake I then waited for an opening to use activate it. This time I barely evaded the boar as it charged towards me, I took the chance and tapped it continuously hoping for something to happen. Then a second later an A.I. voice announced "Initiating first run." And as if I was being controlled my arms and legs stretched outwards, "Commence mind mapping." After that countless blue orbs of energy appeared before me. A burning sensation was felt on my waist as the blue orbs converged upon it. As the light dimmed it appeared to be my mind reader device that was supposed to be in my house right now. "My….mind….reader?" Then it hit me as if an imaginary frying pan had been thrown at my face. Next a H.U.D. or a 'Heads-up-Display' slid across the top left of my field of vision and it showed a green HP bar, an empty Adr. bar, and a blue AP bar. Next my limbs retracted themselves in without me controlling them and more of the tiny orbs of energy converged to form a layer of light on top of my chest, forearms, forehead, legs, shoulders, and feet. "Mapping complete, armor deployed."

The fading light revealed a lightweight silver grey chest plate that encompassed up to my shoulders and neck, silver grey armguards with dark grey rims near the ends of it, and black boots with silver grey shin guards. I could see my health bar was 7250/10000, and I felt that my injury earlier did not hurt as much compared to the pain a minute ago.

The holographic window then displayed 'to begin combat you must summon your weapon by imagining it's appearance within your mind, or summon it manually from the Arkkle' as a button. I then noticed that the right side of the mind reader was flashing red. Since I did not have a clue what the name of my weapon was, I could only press the summon button on the left side of my mind reader. But then as I looked at the boar since I could see it's name now I thought 'Where is that from?' And because of my hesitation my chest took a direct hit from the boar's short and stout horns, pushing the air right out of my lungs as I was sent flying, and crashing onto a nearby tree. As I got myself back on my feet, I saw my green hp gauge dropped to 3500/10000 "Sh*t". I then focused my mind into dodging the boar's next charge.

As I carefully evaded from the boar's path, it slammed itself into the same tree that I was knocked into, stunning it. I took this chance to press the button on the left side of the Arkkle and instantly the same blue orbs that formed my armor began to materialize into a sword and just like before, this time the A.I. voice said "Sword Vent". I then said "Alright.", grabbed my sword, and began to slice at the stunned boar. As I hacked and slashed relentlessly a health bar appeared on top of it and started to drop. But as I bring its green bar down to about three quarters, the boar recovered from it's dazed condition. I then reacted by leaping two meters back while the boar flailed its head like a drugged maniac. The boar snapped out its wild movements and swung its head towards me. As the intensity of the atmosphere grew, the wind blew a gentle breeze and rustled the grass on the ground. The HUD then displayed 'In order to damage enemies you can either manually attack with your weapon, or activate an attack skill by assuming the skill's stance.' And a palette of four skills slid from the right of my vision field. 'Power Thrust' 'Gale Slash' 'Death Stroke' 'Smite'

"Yeah, thanks for the late notice." I said as I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"I wonder what's exactly happens if that hp gauge drops to zero?" Then another holographic window rose up onto my HUD and read 'No nearby resurrection shrine detected within a two hundred meter radius.' Which took me a few seconds to understand the meaning of that sentence.

"Looks like it's all or nothing now huh?" I said to the boar even though I was sure it couldn't understand my words. Even though my mind was ready, my body trembling uncontrollably.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated, *Haaa* and assumed my kendo stance. With the sword gripped in both hands, I pulled back the sword with my right hand and kept my left hand forward. In response the boar scraped its left hoof upon the ground and blew out a puff of air from its snout as if it understood my actions. Coincidently the wind blew even harder and rustled the branches of the trees around us. Since I have seen the attack animation from attack skills repeatedly after my many battles, the memories that burned in mind was now brighter than before. The boar took the first move and activated an attack skill, it then charged at me at a much higher speed than before. I then countered it by planted my left hand on the top of its head and vaulted over its body similar to a cartwheel. Since the boar now needed to slow down from its high speed attack I saw my opportunity unleashed "Power Thrust", 'A swift weapon skill, high penetrating power. Cost: five AP'. But what caught my attention was that as my blade was activating the skill it glowed with an orange light and as it cut through the air during the skill's motion it left behind a bright orange trail. The blue AP gauge decreased from twenty to fifteen, but the empty Adr. filled up with five points.

Secondly I activated "Gale Slash" 'releases a green crescent shaped wave that pushes back and staggers the opponent. Cost: ten AP' Again the now the yellow Adr. gauge rose to ten points. Finally I leaped into the air with my sword over my head and unleashed "Death Stroke" 'Powerful chain finisher Cost: fifteen AP' "Insufficient AP. Substitute with Adrenaline?" I thought 'yes'. With both my AP gauge and Adr. gauge drained, the sword gave off a bright golden yellow coloured light in addition to the glowing sword skill trail. The boar let out a miserable squeal as it's body was split into two pieces. *Critical Hit*. As the health bar of the boar dropped to zero from my sword combo I realized now that it didn't bleed a drop of blood. Instead red dust like particles floated into the air from the cuts and lacerations that I inflicted on the boar's body until it's body eventually turned to dust and faded away. "Oh geez, that sh*t was crazy" As I collapsed down to my knees. *ghrg* My mind began to have a head ache as I walked back to the house. Struggling to open the sliding glass door I collapsed to the floor and lost connection to reality. After that the armor and sword faded to dust, but the mind reader again glowed with a blue light and disappeared, leaving behind a belt of seared markings on my waist line. And the words " Basic Combat Tutorial Complete." Was then displayed on the watch.

*Day 0 Over*


	3. Chapter 3: New World

In the following days after the New World's full release, monsters from the game began appearing across the globe causing destruction as they walked the earth. Humanity began to take up arms against these monsters.

Initially the monsters showed up on news as mysterious beings, strange phenomenon, or cases of unknown deaths.

Eventually monsters began to show up on mass and had destroyed nearby cities.

These reports of destructions soon caused widespread panic across the globe

The monsters themselves came in many different forms and sizes. Monsters would range humanoid creatures such as humans themselves, giants, dwarves, spectral enemies such as phantoms, skeletons, possessed suits of armor, mechanical enemies including, robots, androids, and cyborgs.

As the monsters of New World entered the earth, they began to attack anything that their species was opposed of, humans were simply the opposition of every species of enemies of monsters.

Humanity took up arms the invading species, however because their weapons, equipment, and training were mainly created to be used against humans, their effectiveness was considerably reduced against some of larger scale monsters or monsters such as phantoms.

Military forces were often short-handed and often handicapped against the oncoming threat of the monsters.

During this time martial law was enforced in many parts of the world.

However the players of New World quickly realized of the situation and took up arms against the monsters.

Even though beta players did not have knowledge of the enemy's fighting patterns, they had the skills and fighting experience alongside powerful weapons that could easily take down monsters.

However the players from the alpha was already immersed in combat with enemies to not only human typed enemies and led teams of beta players to take down enemies with higher difficulty.

Some of humans decided to become players just like beta and alpha testers and had donned a mind reader.

Together with the military forces, both forces managed hunker down and hold down key locations for civilians from the monsters.

Despite players having the greatest chance in defeating monsters in humanity, many lost their lives with the soldiers defending strongholds and buying time to evacuate civilians.

Death and chaos spread like a plague and leaving trails of fire and destruction behind, cities were in ruins, bodies littered the streets, craters were everywhere, and walls of buildings were painted crimson with blood.

Shortly NPC's or Non-Player Characters made their debut in many parts of the planet.

Unlike players themselves, NPC's simply re-spawn outside the radius of the resurrection shrine.

Humans that died and were resurrected by a shrine was given an option of continuing as a human or become a NPC

Japan however known for its high population servers and its separation to the main continent its players quickly reacted, regrouped, and repelled most the incoming threats.

Thus Japan's players and military forces was able to hold on the main cities of the country such as Tokyo.

Other countries however were not as lucky as Japan and was completely overrun by monsters.

So far only major countries such as England, France, the United States of America, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Poland, and Germany was able to withstand the oncoming apocalypse.

With the balance of power now tipped towards gamers within the human society, some became legends among the citizens, while others who terrorized the area with their powers just as much as monsters, there was also some who saw this as opportunity to escape from their previous lives.

Now the game has evolved from something that used to be a piece of entertainment for humans to a game of survival.

July 18th, 2038 A.D.

*Gulp* A man in a set of blue armor horrified from the hall that was filled with corpses.

"Get a grip! You're all just sitting ducks if you keep staring!" A man cladded in thick white armor wielding a shining white lance announced.

His armor was so bright that one could mistake him for a white paladin

"Come on Marine, get your ass off the ground, there's lives on the line!"

"Leo…, of course we got to finish what we have started."

The army of five hundred was reduced to twenty-five in two mere hours.

In a certain platoon of fifteen people, only eight had remained including Marine and Leo.

The player named Marine picked up his blue broad head spear and reached out for Leo's hand.

A huge dark claw came slashing towards Leonardo.

"Look out!"

Marine had pulled Leo's arm towards himself. *Crash*

The sharp claw had sliced through Leo's armor similar to a hot knife through butter.

3 hours earlier

*Sigh* "I'm so hungry" a player had said

"Come on guys, dinnertime is on it's way just hold out for a little bit longer alright?" Responded Leonardo

"Yes, yes captain…"

"Anyways setup your living quarters for the night, the assault will begin early tomorrow so make you sure you get enough rest."

"Yessir" The platoon of players replied as they dispersed

Looking at Marine "Alright let's setup our stuff." Said Leonardo

After watching over the rest of their platoon set up their tents, platoon equipment station, field kitchen, and medic bay, the platoon set their sights on finishing dinner and resting up.

"I'm done for…ahgg" Marine said with a yawn

"Yeah me as well…Yargh" Leonardo replied as well with a yawn

Before long the two had fallen fast asleep.

*Boom* *Clang* *Girnn* "Arghh..!"

"Hmm..?"

Opening one eye, Marine wondered about the noises coming from outside.

Hearing the sounds coming from outside, Leonardo and Marine exited their tent to find the player camp under assault by numerous monsters. Fires lit up the night like the evening stars, blood splatters painted the ground like graffiti, and columns of dust rose into the evening sky. Suddenly the image began to flicker and blurred to the image of the boss "The Shadow Eater" returned.

"Ughhh…."

Deep red liquid flowed down Leo's right shoulder.

"Ughh!...…"

"Dammit, I'm so sorry!..."

"It's not the time for that, if you didn't pull me aside I would have suffered more than just a few scratches."

"But, it was my fault that you had to pick me back up." Marine said with despondent eyes

"Enough talking! We gotta move."

The two warriors were quickly back on the move, to minimal damage amongst them.

"Me and Marine will take on the boss, the rest of you keep the minions off our backs." Leo commanded with a confident sentence.

Suddenly, everything turned red and flickered as it quickly faded to black.

Nonetheless that everything had disappeared, fractured images that flickered back and forth.

The shadow beast's collapse as it moaned.

The red glowing air with floating embers.

The ground that was scorched by flames

The corpses of men that littered the cathedral hall

"This is where we part ways, I hope the best for your future. Marine…" A voice similar to Leo's as it passed by.

"We're saved! All hail the blue Mariner!" A rejoiced voice echoed through the darkness.

Now begins the history of Humanity's survival and the story of a certain man.


	4. Chapter 4: New Work

Ashura wakes up with his eyelids wavering up and down and thought about what he had dreamt about. 'An echo of the past huh.' After getting up from his bed, he opened the curtains revealing a beautiful sunrise in the distance shining across the barren horizon.

"You awake Captain?" A loud voice came from the other side of the door

"What it is?" Ashura replied with a loud voice as well

"The commander is requesting your presence for an urgent job request."

"Tell her I'll be there in a few minutes."

Brushing his black hair that covered his eyes aside, he then picked up and put on his long black jacket, ankle height black leather boots, and walked out the door to the hallway revealing a triangular logo with the letters MRC. Ashura walked down the brick stairs and into a room that resembled a business office with a polished wooden table, leather patted chair, and a wooden frame window similar to the one in Ashura's room. A brown haired women was sitting in the brown leather chair, while my close companion Hayate was standing right beside me.

"Reporting for duty commander."

"No need to be so formal with just us three here. Anyways I'll get straight to the chase, a client sent us a request asking to get rid a scrapper group in the area. We have proof of them harassing local players so there shouldn't be any problems of killing them but there are a decent number of them so make sure they don't find out who you are."

"How many of them are there exactly?" Hayate asked

"About fifteen including their leader, and our scouts have reported that they use an underground hideout as their HQ as well as-"

"Why not just send a group of five to clear it out then?" Ashura asked

"The client is a close friend of mine and he is paying top dollar so he can pay them back for his friends that got taken advantage of. Also their HQ is within city zones so they will just resurrect at the cathedral after they're killed, so you two will be the most effective in destroying their morale. And besides, you guys are going to get first picks when we split the spoils" she said with a wink

"What are their levels and weapons?" Ashura asked with a heavy sigh

"Forty to forty-five but you two who can handle level fifty beasts shouldn't have too much trouble against them."

"Whatever, let's do this" Ashura said as he walked out of the room

"Make sure you don't show them your face." The female vice-commander yelled after him

"I got it." Ashura responded

"We'll be fine, I'll watch over him." Said Hayate as he left the room as well

Ashura walked back to his private room and began to pack his inventory. As he was packing he picked up a framed picture showing a teenage boy in all black clothing with a young brunette girl in a white and blue dress with blue ribbons and a black haired women in a red blazer and brown skirt.

The golden sunset gave off a feeling of the end of a day's of hard work and radiated off warm orange and yellow rays onto the land. The air was stagnant while the sounds could not be heard within eyesight. Two men were clad in metal plated armor similar to medieval knights were standing in front to the entrance of some sort building that was almost destroyed beyond recognition. However one could believe it was a museum based its historic appearance from its marble walls, tall rugged pillars, and its ancient architectural construction style. Behind them as well as the entrance was various fallen walls of buildings that used to be intact. Another man was perched in front of a hole on an old abandoned building facing the entrance, and was carefully keeping watch of the area. The mysterious entrance guarded by the three people was surrounded by dozens of old fallen buildings, destroyed intra-structure, and vehicles that was damaged beyond identification. The whole area resembled as if a ten tsunamis had assaulted this wasteland. Then one hundred meters from the two steel plated knights, two silhouettes were kneeling upon a tree branch five meters off the ground. One of silhouettes held up a long rifle while the other stood up with a large broad head spear.

"You ready?" Said the sitting silhouette

"Let's do this." Said the shadow that had stood up

As the two steel plated knights were still keeping watch, suddenly a person clad with two capes and two long grey side capes that was attached to his waist had fallen straight from the sky similar to as if he had dove from the clouds. As he made contact with the ground, he caused the ground to tremor and crack upon his landing. While unknown to the two armored guards, a loud bang could be heard from a distance. "What!?" Shaken by his unorthodox entrance, the two knights hesitated for half a second before both of them raised their weapons to attack this mysterious warrior. With closer examination the jet black suit that he wore had blue marine trimmings that resembled a human blood vessels. "I don't care who you are but you're dead!" said one of the guards. The black warrior with his head half covered by a dark grey helmet, his eyes being covered with a dark purple visor said nothing in return. The guard who shouted his words then lifted his two handed steel axe while the other guard followed after the axe guard's charge, charging towards the black warrior with a sword and shield in his hands. Despite wielding such a large broad head spear, the black spear warrior nimbly evaded the chop made by the axe and pushed back the advancing sword wielding knight. By using 'Spiraling Vengeance' the attacks done two knights were absorbed and knocked back despite wearing such heavily plated armor. The guards that were inside the armor staggered by the counter-blow. "Uhhhh.." An electrically charged bullet flew in from the horizon and struck the knight wielding the axe, thus he became stunned from the electricity and collapsed to the ground. While the axe knight was stunned, the sword knight continued to fight the mysterious black warrior however despite the knight's attempts to attack, defend, or use skills his techniques was countered every single time "Dammit." As they had kept on fighting, the sword knight went on to use 'berserker's slash' while the black warrior used 'wild strike' to counter. Sparks were lighting up the air as these powerful skills came into contact. As their weapons had entered a deadlock, the black warrior saw an opportunity at this time, so he pushed and swung his opponent's sword in vertical circle similar to a counter-clockwise rotation, lifted his blade out of his hands, and had launched it into the air. Baffled with wide eyes, the knight looked towards the sky as his while the black warrior saw an opportunity. "AAAAAaaaargh" Screamed the knight. The huge spear had skewered his body, the damage he had suffered reduced his Hp gauge above his head from full down to two thirds remaining. The black warrior then slowly lifted the sword knight off the ground with his spear still impaled as the axe knight had recovered from being stunned. Then two more bullets flew in from the distance was aimed towards the black warrior, just before they reached their target the tips of the bullet split apart revealing needles as the tip. The two needle tipped bullets struck the black warrior on the neck and the thigh. "Uoooohhh" he lifted the sword knight at an amazing rate compared to moments before. *Slam* the charging axe knight was smacked by the body of the sword knight, causing them to crash to the entrance of their hideout. The sound of bones cracking could be heard from a distance, the two knights gasped but could not vocalized any words out of their mouths. The sword knight now had about a third of his Hp remaining while the other axe knight had about two thirds remaining. The black warrior then spun and held his huge broad headed spear in the air with his right hand and whispered "X-ray Penetrate". The huge spear began glowed with a dark purple light and the words 'Final Advent' could be heard by the black warrior from his Arkkle. "Ughh….","Ahhhh…" The two knights returned to their senses and saw a purple beam was brightly lit in front of their eyes that was aimed upon their necks. "Execute" was heard and the black warrior threw his spear like a ray of light, severed the two knight's necks, and struck a deep hole on the two inched thick steel door to the hideout guarded by those two. The warrior in black retrieved hi. A man with a long rifle then walked up to the black warrior.

"Did you take out their over watch?" Said the black warrior.

"Well I wouldn't be here if I didn't." Responded the marksman.

*Sigh*"I hate it when you bring sarcasm to the field. Anyways let's hurry up with this mission." With that said the black warrior separated his spear shaft from his spear head revealing a one handed sword similar to a sword that was drawn out of its sheath. While the spear head split as two pieces while it was still attached to the center that resembled a sword sheath and contracted together like a shield. "Synergize" At that instant the garments wore by the black warrior began to warp, the capes began to join together revealing a sleeve-less black trench coat. His jet black jump suit morphed into obsidian shoulder guards, dark grey arm and shin guards with black trimmings, a grey chest plate with overlaying pieces over the abdomen, and black leather boots. The dark grey helmet retracted the purple visor upwards and changed shape into an open top leather helm with three horns that was attached to the strap wrapped around the forehead. The marksman took aim, *Bang* and *Bang* the locks were shot open and the door being angled inwards fell inwards. Inside the remote hideout was illuminated with dim yellow lights. If one did not know better it could have been easily mistaken as a jail or dungeon. "Who's there?" Came a voice from a deeper section of the hideout. "Two Hostiles, one spear and one archer. Get your knife ready, 'Shadow Sanctuary!'." A cloak of transparency covered Ashura and Hayate just as, a man with a steel three pronged lance ran from what seemed to be an underground passage up into the room followed by a woman equipped a wooden bow. "Show yourselves!" the man shouted. *Hack* *Gack* 'Critical Hit'. "Very well." The woman was slit in the throat and slashed in the back by Hayate while the spear was stabbed in the spine twice by Ashura without any signs of hesitation. *Flop* The bodies land on a large pool of blood.

"You and your sarcastic comments." said Hayate as he gave a wry smile

"Well he got he wanted, and from what I surveyed earlier those five should have been all there were. The objective should be downstairs from where those two came from."

As they wandered through underground floor of the hideout, a girl was seen with her arms being hung up by chains. Her scarlet red hair that flowed down her back was a mess, while the lavender blazer with purple trimmings and the black thigh socks that she had on were split and torn. In addition her face and body seemed to be battered with bruises.


	5. Chapter 5: New Humanity

"Now the cuffs." Said Hayate as he moved to undo the shackles on her arms.

"Hey, you awake?" Said Ashura as he tapped the red haired girl's cheeks

"Uhnnn..."

"Just barely huh? Alright get her on your back and let's get out of this dump."

"Hey! Why do I have to do it? You're the strong one."

"And you score higher with the ladies. Besides I can't fight with her in my arms, while you can still shoot while carrying her along."

"Hrrrghh…...Goddamit" Muttered Hayate as he lifted the girl onto his back.

The two moved quickly back the way they came and back up the stairs.

"Hold up." Said Hayate as he peeked out the entrance

"What do you see?"

"Multiple enemies hidden behind cover, looks like they know we broke in and came rushing back."

"We can't escape with this girl slowing us down, we got to take them out."

"Got a plan?"

"If you can capture their attention and buy me enough time, I should be able to take out a few from a distance."

"Fair enough, what about the girl?"

"I'll keep her beside me in the place where I killed the over watch guard. You just focus on keeping them out while buying me enough time."

"Roger that then. Hmmm...if I had to guess that man walking like a Yakuza in the center of his two accompanying guards looks like the boss of this dump."

With Ashura's response Hayate brought the girl with him up the tower where the man on overwatch was killed. Even though the enemies were not easily seen by Hayate, they were clear as black and white to Ashura's eyes.

"Unnnnhh...Where...am...I?" Muttered the red haired girl as she breathed heavily.

"Shhhhh...It'll be all better soon."

"Are you a pedophile?! Let go of me!" Shouted the girl as she tried to struggle but could not muster enough strength due to her injuries.

"Hey! I'm the one broke you out of this place!" Retorted Hayate

*Breathes in*"Then why are you touching me in weird places?!"

Hayate then realized that he placed his hands almost touching distance to the girl's crotch.

"My bad." Said a reddened Hayate he desperately tried to shift his hand positions.

"Hey what's holding you up?!" Asked Ashura.

"Nothing..."*Sigh*

"Alright, realize!"

With those words the dark trench coat that Ashura wore came together and stiffened into a large dark chest armor with grey trimmings. The black shoulder guards began to expand even larger than before now covering his shoulders and the side of his biceps. While his dark armguards began lighten up to a grey sheen, thicken, and stiffen. The lower half of the trench coat wrapped around Ashura's thighs stiffened and became thick armor plating. The shin guards that he wore also changed into an armored shell around his shins. His headgear morphed into a black helmet with a large flat horn with two shorter horns on each side of the center horn, the helmet wrapped every part of his face except for his transparent black eyes. Finally he took his sword and stabbed it in the opposite direction to the direction where his sword was ejected in spear form. *Kachak* again the pommel of the sword extended into a long haft while the sides of the shield expanded outwards forming a large dark steel axe. In summary he had changed into a black armored knight and slowly walked out the entrance.

Hayate laid down the girl and readied his long rifle on the windowsill. The scarlet haired girl stared in amazement as Hayate's concentration gave off a presence resembling a predator waiting for the kill. Knowing that she could not sit still and do nothing, the red haired girl slowly rose up from Hayate and peeked out the window.

"He's not…taking on….all of them….by himself….is he?"

"Don't worry he can handle it."

*Breathes in*"Taking on all those guys alone is suicide!"

"I'll take you up on that bet. He didn't receive the position of Jack for MERCS by doing nothing you know?"

"If there are only two of you to take on all these guys, then you must be a..."

"Correct I'm one of the Aces of MERCS. But keep it confidential because bad things happen to those who run their mouth…." Hayate said with a mischievous smile.

MERCS was an infamous mercenary group made up mainly of beta players and a few alpha testers where most were veterans from the war of the new world. Their service was famed to be one of the best mercenaries you could hire within central Japan. Their fighting strength are only second to a few top guilds and the government's elites. Also because they operate secretively in separate branches, they were extremely difficult to track down. Their fame eventually that the government began to offer large bounties for the Jacks, Queens, Kings, and the vice-presidents of the organization.

"Who….sent….you guys…..for me?"

"We'll catch up at a later time."

Even though the scarlet girl knew the knight in black was one of Jacks of MERCS, she still watched worrying for his safety. As the boss character finally makes his appearance, he was accompanied with two swordsmen along his side. He himself was about a few inches taller than Ashura and seemed to have quite a muscular build. His purple hair flowed down the sides of his head. He was wearing leather bandit-like garments that contrasted to the knights earlier who were guarding the entrance.

"You got some nerve to come to a place like this!" Snarled the boss character in a low voice

"It's all part of the job." said Ashura with a voice skin to a know-it-all.

"I'll make sure you wish you never became a player." said the boss character with a big grin on his face

Ashura activated 'Hell's Arena' while stabbing his axe into the ground and instantly the scrapers hidden in the surroundings watched as if a dense shimmering transparent dome formed with the black knight's axe as the center. Assuming it was a defensive barrier, the boss character yelled out "Fire!" Then arrows and bullets flew rapidly towards Ashura. However he did not move an inch as the projectiles headed towards him. One could believe it was possible to dodge the arrows but Ashura seemed to move with a frightening speed and was able to dodge all of the four projectiles without effort. "tsk...Keep firing!" The boss character clicked his tongue and sent another order. But just like last time, the bullets and arrows were dodged with relative ease. Again and again, Ashura does not seem to be wasting any of his stamina while the boss charged in himself since his allies could not hit him.

"How does he keep doing that, it's like his armor isn't slowing him down one bit." said the amazed girl.

Meanwhile unknown to him the enemies with the firearms were slowly being picked off one by one by Hayate. And because he was firing in sync with the shooters below and taking care of the shooters first, the sounds of his rifle was masked with the sound of the enemy's rifles. Eventually the boss noticed when both the shooters were taken down when Hayate fired towards the archers. "Arggghhhh..." the shooter made a gurgling sound as his head was pierced by a bullet. Unlike the shooters who were lying prone and separated with a fair distance, the two archers both were within eyesight. The sight of his friend being shot in the head caused him to overflow with fear. As a result he retreated from the battle fearing for his life. While the battle on his end was not faring too well either. The boss and his two allies entered Ashura's dome, just as they stepped inside they felt like a powerful heat wave had surged through their bodies. The temperature difference was so strong that two swordsmen collapsed to the ground. Before they knew it, they had fallen into a trap, their vision began to blur, sweat began flow uncontrollably, their bodies felt like they were being roasted alive. "What…..is….this?" Muttered the guild master. Despite this overwhelming heat, he took up his spear and activated 'Pegasus Charge' towards Ashura who stood tall with his axe in hand and unaffected by his arena. Winds were picking up from the outside of the shimmering dome, nevertheless the winds seemed to disperse just as they entered the dome. "What..!" The guild master said with a gasp, in addition his charge attack passed right through Ashura's body as if he passed right through a hologram. Ashura then swung his axe, by reflex the guild master managed to evade a lethal evisceration by jumping back. Nonetheless a cut opened up on his right shoulder down to the center of his chest, *AHHHRgg* red vapor poured out of the wound as the guild master.

"Be careful getting your blood vaporized isn't very fun you know* Ashura smirked.

"Get a grip and fight!" The guild master yelled at his two allies.

However the two swordsmen who were accompanying him attempted to attack as well but, could not do any better than their boss. Since the two of them was greatly depleted of their stamina, Ashura was able to land fatal blows without much difficulty. *AHHH!**Hack* One was beheaded while the other was split open near the waist "Why you!" He snarled yet again. Realizing that all of his allies have been slaughtered and began to fear for his life. He then mustered the last ounce of his strength and tried to escape Ashura's trap.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Said Ashura with a calm tone and plunged his axe into .

The instant the guild master passed through the edge of the shimmering dome his body was set ablaze, and his health bar began drop rapidly.

"My dome has a wall that will set anything in flames that tries to leave."

'Healing Breeze' and a soft breeze blew over the guild master. His hp bar that was falling rapidly a second ago began to slowly climb back up.

"How was that possible…!? It didn't set any of us on fire when we entered…."

"I compressed most the heat energy to the edges of dome and so turned up the temperature."

After he had put out the fires that was burning on his armor, his healing breeze had restored his health back up to about a third of the full gauge.

Back to the top of the hideout, the girl could not believe her eyes.

"How..!?...what just happened? How could he hold off a group of seven alone!?"

"I told you didn't I?" Hayate responded with pride.

"Please! Let us live and you will never see us again!" The guild master pleaded desperately.

Nonetheless Ashura approached the guild master menacingly.

"Ehhkk….!"

"Come on just leave him be, he's not threat to us anymore." The red haired girl shouted to Ashura

"Y-y-y-yes, please listen to her." Stuttered the guild master plead towards of Ashura

*Splak*Just as he finished his sentence, his upper body was split in half by Ashura without a hint of hesitation. The girl gasped in horror as the guild master's corpse fell to the ground.

"Come on let's go." Hayate said with a grim expression

"Are…you...crazy! He just executed an unarmed man! How do you expect me trust this guy!?"

"There's only so many times you can place your trust in others before you start viewing everyone as an enemy."

Hayate positioned himself to carry the red haired girl.

"I can walk on my own, thank you very much." The girl said snobbily

"Finee…., don't slow us down then."

The two proceeded to exit the hideout. But just as Hayate walked out of the door, the girl drew her red sword resembling a falcon's wing and held Hayate hostage.

"Drop your weapons, and tell your partner to leave."

Ashura ejected his sword out of shield and inserted it back through the sheath compartment of the shield. He then planted it on the ground.

Noticing her hand was shaking uncontrollably, "Hmm, not a very smart move is it now?"

"Energize" and the cloak donned by Ashura returned to its blue veined jumpsuit form with the four grey capes.

*Gack* Using the back of his head, Hayate bashed the head of the girl causing her to flinch and shut her eyes as a reflex. Like a bullet Ashura closed the distance between them before the girl could react to the elbow jab. *Clank* the red sword wielded by the girl was launched in the air by Ashura's spear. Realizing Hayate had broken free and being disarmed by Ashura, she attempted to summon the other sword from her set of dual swords. *Harghh* However Ashura had already landed a powerful punch to her abdomen causing her body crumple like a piece of paper scrap.

"Nooo….." Even though her lips moved no air came out of her mouth, as her consciousness had already turned to black.

"Ungrateful B*tch…." Muttered Ashura as he placed his sword and shield on his back

"You had one job…., you're taking my shift tonight"

"Yeah, yeah"

"I'll carry her, you be the Vanguard and watch for incoming threats."

With those words, Ashura picked up the body of the girl with a fireman's carry compared to Hayate's piggyback and ran across the horizon.


	6. Chapter 6: The New Spada

Two guards were standing guard by the entrance to MERCS compound.

"Welcome back sir" Said an attendant dressed in a black baggy work uniform armed with a sword on his stood guard at the door

"Thank you…..uhhh…." Said Ashura as he pondered deeply

"Sergeant Regio sir." The man answered

"Ah, yes of course. Could you take her to the infirmary, she is a package for a client, make sure you do not lose track of her. Also place mental blockers once she is the infirmary, did you get all of that?"

"Of course sir, it would be my pleasure. But would one guard be enough to watch the entrance?"

"If there's any trouble with any of the superiors, I'll take responsibility."

"Yessir!" The guard responded confidently and carried the dark haired girl inside the compound.

The Jack and the Ace walked down to the east side of the compound. A sign read 'barracks straight, R&amp;D Department turn left'. *Clack* the two walked through the door and un-equipped their armor and weapons.

"I've got a meeting to attend to, so I'll be off."

"What meeting? Am I supposed to be there?"

"Ah no, it's just a routine meeting for the Aces…" Said Hayate as he ran off

'Hmm, there wasn't anything like that when I was an Ace…' the more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. But judging from his past experience, he had trusted Hayate with more pressing matters.

'Oh well, I'll just leave him with whatever he's doing…' and continued on his way to the barracks. Passing the many doors and lavender painted walls, it's a phenomenon of how this facility was kept in such a pristine condition after the apocalypse. Just as Ashura has passed by a door with the sign R&amp;D written upon it, one of the two piece door opened, and out came a short man with a lab coat holding onto a brown clipboard. Looking up from his clipboard he noticed Ashura walking down the hall and decided to chase after him. Turning towards the sound of running, "Oh it's you, Kenta"

"It's Kenji, how could you still haven't got my name down despite knowing me for half a year now…?" Puffing up his cheeks as he walked beside him

"I'm just terrible with names in general…" Ashura shrugged

"Anyways what's up? It is isn't like you to come chasing after me in such a hurry?"

"Oh, I just wanted to talk about the recent sales of the second gen models. We reached a grand total of ten thousand units sold."

"Ohhh..? Which ones in particular?"

"The striker spear has been selling like hot cakes, while the sentinel shield has been getting more popularity as we speak. If only my models would sell so good…." *Sigh*

"I'm sure you'll get a breakthrough with one of your designs sooner or later, besides no matter how well my models are made they can never match up to yours in terms of performance." Ashura said with a smile

"Yeah, but they still can't sell better than yours… plus even ace Hayate started to entrust his rifle to you instead of me…." Said Kenji as he pouted with his hands behind his head.

"It's all about marketing my friend, the majority of the players just believe in the myth that adaptives are superior to standard weapons are because to them they look and function like they came from the future. They are only superior at the fact they can perform different types of weapon skills compared to standard weapons. Plus non-varium based and mechanical/varium hybrid adaptives only came on the market recently, so you can't blame them to be all excited like children that just found their new favourite toy. If you could improve the power or even just make the performance of the standard weapons such as discovering a new fire mechanism for firearms, you'll be out selling me in no time."

"Alright…By the way when are you going to release the third generation models?" Kenji said with an excited tone as he leaped in front of Ashura.

"Relax, that's not going to be in some time, I'm still field testing the prototype."

"From what I've seen, the three interchangeable form of the third generation Evolution is already a point where it would even better than your second generation designs."

"Well, I wasn't aiming to be rich in the first place, I just needed enough to fund my adaptive weaponry research and equipment. I mostly just give away the amount I don't need to either my subordinates or the R&amp;D team."

"No wonder they're so fond of you already…" Kenji mumbled to himself

"By the way, have you heard of any of the new meetings for the Aces recently? I haven't heard anything related to that sort of thing?"

"No….I don't think I have and besides I'm the chief of R&amp;D why are asking me?" Kenji replied with a laugh

"Yeah I only heard about it from Hayate… I swear he's up to something suspicious but I'll leave him be for now."

"Oh well, I hope you're ready for your promotion ceremony tonight."

"Oh, I forgotten all about it."

"What are you going to forget next, your name?"

"Get off my back… Besides I usually don't look forward to these events. I have to dress up all fancy and sh*t"

"Come on it'll be fun."

"It'll be fun he says." Ashura said with a wry smile

"Ugh… You are such a pain sometimes, anyways this is my stop, I'll see you later at the ceremony then." Kenji concluded as he walked into a room with the sign that read 'Administrative Office'

"Later." Replied Ashura as he continued the path to his sleeping quarters

As he opened the door to the bathing room, he closed it as quickly he opened it. Preparing for a shower, he removes his shirt revealing a black mark in the shape of a sun on the surface of his left breast. Suddenly the black marking began to pulse with a red glow. A wave of pain ran through his left arm as he collapsed to his knees before his bed. "ARRKH!" *Heavy Breathing* From an average person's perspective the skin from his top left upper body down to his forearm was badly seared and was heating up the air from it's rubicund glow.

Even though the pain eventually faded away, the pained expression on his face was not giving way anytime soon.

"Ughh…it's getting worse…day by day." Wheezed Ashura as he presses right hand on top of the his right eye.

"Just a little longer…" he said to himself as he stepped into one of the shower rooms.  
As water fell from the shower head and made contact with his left arm, it vaporized as it made contact.

"Man, that guy never relaxes? Does he? Things would have been so much easier if he wouldn't be so nosy all the time" Hayate said to himself as he walked alone through the halls of the compound.

"Time to check up on that package." Said Hayate as he reached a doorway with a sign reading 'Infirmary' in black bold letters.

Aside from the number of others resting, a girl with dark red hair was sleeping on a white bed within the room. As if she noticed Hayate's presence. The girl slowly forced open her eyes.

"How are ya feeling, Hika is it?"

"Terrible, thanks to you two."

"Then I'm sure you would have been better left in the hands of those scrappers then." Hayate replied with a taunting smile.

"Fineeee, thank you for rescuing me." The red haired girl said in a mockingly monotone voice

"Besides you got what you wanted when you tried to take me hostage."

"Is the other guy crazy or something? He didn't have to killed them all, you know. I'm sure a warning would have been fine to them." Exclaimed in a wild manner in her bed.

"He doesn't talk much and hates loose ends. Even though I would hate killing all of them, I still believed he made the right choice. Those guys would have came after us and caused more trouble, I'm sure those guys that showed up when we escaped was only a portion of their entire guild. Me and him have seen too many moments where people like that guildmaster have taken advantage other's kindness. I hate to say it but I'm glad that this apocalypse allowed me to see the ugliness of mankind."  
"It's not like I can't agree with that. Yet I always wished I could go back to when this never happened. I know it will never happen no matter how hard I wished." Said the depressed dark haired girl as she looked down and hugged her knees.

"Well…half of Japan's spawn beacons have destroyed in the first apocalypse war, but we're lacking frontline strength at the present. The remaining players just adapted to living like this, so the clearing teams are dwindling on strength and numbers. Also, I want to say he wasn't always like this and he used to be like this or that, but I feel like anyone who survived this long in this wasteland that heard it wouldn't bought it as believable."

"Anyways I have to leave to settle some business. You know….., the baths are down the hall and to the left if you're not too beat up. Later" With a smirk on his face as he left the infirmary."

An annoyed expression popped up on her face, as Hayate left his teasing remark behind as he left the room. But she couldn't denied from being locked up in a scrapper hideout.

"That…guy." As she grinded her teeth and fist. But after being able to smell her own self, she decided to leave for the baths.

"Down the halls, and to the left huh. Ah that must be it."

Looking inside the baths, it seemed that it was currently empty. 'Well at least I could bathe in silence. I can't wait to get back to Cosmos and eat parfaits with Hana.' Smiling as she relived her memories.

With the male and female baths being connected together "ARKKH!" A yell came from the male's bath.

'huh?'

"Just a little longer….."

'Doesn't that voice belong to the other MERC that killed the other scrappers?'

"Hey, you ok over there?"

No response came from the male baths.

'Was that my imagination?'

2 hours later

A great hall was decorated with ceremonial banners, ornaments. Players were gathered in the center and stood proudly in organized platoons. Decorated players with a specially designed white MERC blazers sitting in rows next to a podium.

"Ladies and gents, today we gather here to celebrate a prestigious event. One of our members of the Jacks division haven been accepted for the position for the Spada as one of the four commanders of the Jacks division within MERCS. As you all know MERCS is divided as Kings, Queens, Jacks, ACEs, and the numbers. Kings are the commander class rank, while Queen perform support duties, ACEs specialize in certain aspects, on the other Jacks are made for complex work with their multi-talents, and finally the numbers will enter one of four major divisions of MERCs. Ashura of the Jacks, please come forth." A female officer in a black blazer with an M like symbol and business skirt had announced.

Dressed in a dress uniform with the a M like symbol on his left blazer, Ashura stepped forward from the front row of the group of players that were watching.

"Ma'am!"

"From this day on, you will be in one of the four commanders of the Jacks in MERCS. You will uphold the responsibilities of that position and be a role model of for not only those under your command but those that surround you. Do you accept this promotion?"

Pausing for a moment until moving his lips, "I accept."

A wave of applause and cheers from behind soon followed after.

"Although our division is not as developed as the other divisions and not all of us are present here for this moment, all of us members of MERCS wish the best for our new executive of the Jacks division."

With that sentence the ceremony soon shifted gears into a celebration. Players conversed with each other. Food and drinks were distributed among the members of MERCS. The mercenaries gathered around Ashura, congratulating him. Praises were sang throughout the room.

"Great work sir!" A young man called out

"Well done, you're one step closer to being our top brass, heh heh." A fellow jack had said

"My man Ashura, you got this homie."

"My, my it seemed only yesterday you joined MERCS." A familiar female's voice passed by

"Thank you Queen."  
Suddenly Ashura's vision suddenly became static like for a half second, causing his left eye to twitch for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing…"

"Anyways it seems the man of the hour is here." The queen stared towards a man with a white suitcase entered . Next to him a young man in a white lab coat walked beside him.

"Hayate. Kenji."

"My best regards to your promotions. Jack Spada Ashura." Holding his hand out towards Ashura

"You know it's the other way around you know." Shaking his hand.

"Meh, it flows better that way." Shrugging his shoulder in the process.

Just like Kenji, Hayate put down the white suitcase and stretched out his hand for a handshake. Ashura leaned forward, but before Ashura could reach his hand, Hayate went in for the hug.

"Ya know you can't just give me a handshake for your best buddy."

"Fine just for today." Ashura said with a slight hint of embarrassment.

"Awww, that's adorable." The vargas queen teased.

"Annnd, we're done."

"Oh well, at least I scored higher than Kenji."

"Whatever." Crossing his arms in response.

"Here, me and Kenji fixed this baby for this day." Handing over the white suitcase over to Ashura.

Opening up the suitcase, a dark blue helmet with a dark indigo transparent eyepiece appeared.

"What is it?"

"Programmed with the latest in Auram reading capabilities. This baby can give the wearer ocular abilities from the usage of Auram energy yet maintaining a small profile. Also its weather andshock resistant, aerodynamic, and could adapt to various situations, perfect for your Arsenal cloak. I call it the variable lens."

"Not bad at all, considering you didn't have much crafting knowledge on you."

"Well… I just supplied the measurements and ideas while Kenji here put it all together." Placing his hand on Kenji's shoulder.

"Heh, it wasn't that hard." Said Kenji while facing away from Ashura

"Oh?" Staring into his eyes

"Ok, ok. The varium metal was a little hard to get and craft into the shape of your head since it was the first time I actually combined Varium and crystalline ore."

"A little?"

"Erghh."

"It's fine, I got the gist of the difficulty, since you made this personally I'll treasure it for times to come."

The ceremony and celebrations eventually ended. Moonlight radiated on the balcony of the compound. Ashura was looking out towards the horizon, thinking of the days to come.

"So that's where you were. You didn't show for the remainder of the after party." Said Hayate as he walked up from behind.

"…I was never a party person anyways."

"You aren't many things, yet you always had what they wanted."

"Why do you think I was a Jack?" Ashura replied sarcastically

"So whatcha thinking about?"

"…Nothing much, mostly just where I would be if this and all never happened."

"Huh, I passed by someone earlier thinking the same things as you. Not many players want to go back to how it was back then. Either that or they're dead." *sigh* "Four years had passed and a fifth of us remain. You know you can always tell me what's on your mind."

"…Yeah…I got that." Ashura's vision began to blur as he replied

"You alright man?"

His left eye began to pulsate with a faint purplish glow while murky images began to cross into his field of vision.

"Yeah…I'm fine just a headache."

"You don't look fine to…" Hayate's voice faded to silence

"Ughh…" Collapsing to his knees, Hayate caught his falling body before it reached the ground."

"Hey, you ok man? Hey, hey!"

Author's Note

This chapter is currently unedited and may change in future in addition of content


	7. Chapter 8: New Professor

**Chapter 8**: **New Story**

0100hrs January 8th, 2040 AD

The moonlight lit up the night sky yet Ashura's room was cloaked in deep darkness. With closed eyes, periodic breaths, relaxed body, Ashura could be believed to be in a deep sleep. Outside Ashura's room Queen and Hayate were waiting, deep in thought.

"So, how da the hell does he hafta put up with dis?"

"I don't know, Dr. Kilka kept it confidential."

"Dammit Shura, why do ya keep hiding things from us! Are we not friends?!" Slamming his fist on Ashura's door.

Without warning a spasm coursed through his body, causing his chest to jerk uncontrollably. His empty wide eyes opened towards the ceiling, trapping any light that dared enter. Although his lips moved rapidly, all sound was devoid from the room other than movement from his spasms and wild breathing. Rushing into the room Hayate attempted to hold down Ashura's body.

"Don't! You know you shouldn't hold down a casualty undergoing a spasm."

"Tch! Come on Shura, ya can make it through this."

Ashura is put into early retirement release due to darkening by the order of the queen of Vargas.

0730hrs January 9th, 2040 AD

Ashura walked into the office of the Queen.

"We've got a new job for you. You remember the clientele that requested you for the hostage job a few days ago? "

"Yes, what of it?"

"They want to hire you as an onsite bodyguard. "

"Why me of all people?"

"They say they preferred a MERC with a vast pool of reliable skills. Considering your recent promotion to Spada, I say you would be the perfect person for the job."

"How long will this job be?"

"Currently the client requested half a year."

"What's the meaning of this?"

"You aren't at tip top shape right now, I can't send you off to tougher jobs at your current condition right now."

"I believed you've been deceived, I can assure you that I'm fine." Replied Ashura calmly.

"From what I witnessed two nights ago, you need take some time off from this business." Clasping her hands on her table.

"Come on Shura, yove been working hard lately. It's alright to take some time off." Said Hayate as he strolled into the office.

Turning around to face him Ashura responded "This was your idea was it not?" His voice began to rise in volume.

Straightening his expression "You need this, an opportunity came up and I'm going to take it for your own good."

Quickly materializing his sword, Ashura lunged towards Hayate. As if it was magic, Hayate knocked Ashura's sword with his dagger and landed a fist on Ashura's abdomen, knocking him to the floor. A rifle barrel was pointed against his face.

"There. Was it easier to show you?"

"Ungh, I get the idea."

"I would prefer it if you two can take your little quarrels outside my office. Anyways here is the location of the academy. Your new job starts tomorrow, living arrangements will be provided on-site."

Tokushima became a small town surrounded by ruins after the apocalypse and the first great war of New World. The wastelands served as a transition point between the densities of humans to monsters. The MERCS compound was located in the outskirts of the city. Non-player characters or NPCs were found spread evenly unlike the player population which increased in density into the city. NPCs in MMORPGs often served as merchants, weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, quest givers, information holders, event triggers, or the only purpose of keeping the area lively. With his black cloak dancing in the wind, Ashura set his eyes on the city. A large leather sac was carried on his back while his hands held out an open map.

'Where was this place again? I'm sure I passed by this place before.'

Within Neos Academy, Hika was preparing for her morning classes. Combing her long dark red hair, however she was lost in thought over the event of her capture and rescue.

'That's right I was defending a group of noobies (weak players) when they got ambushed by scrappers.'

Out of the blue her room door burst open, a girl with a set of blue twintails and a black Neos Academy uniform called out to Hika.

"Come on Hika, we're going to be late for class."

"Yeah, I'm coming! Just close the door I'm not fully dressed yet! And don't just barge in out of nowhere!" Shouted Eva as she put on her white miniskirt.

'Her name was Eva, a second year at Neos. Also my close friend and classmate within the academy.'

"Ehh? You're not going with your combat boots today?" Asked Eva.

"It's alright, we are not doing combat training today anyways." Said Hika as she tightened the strap on her black heels.

After tying up white ribbons over her own twintails, the two students left the room.

"Hey, hey I heard we are getting a new professor today."

"Really? Because I am getting really tired of Prof. Rito by now. By the way how did you know?"

"I'm not sure myself but it's just a rumor I heard in the staff lounge." Eva pondered with closed eyes.

"Ehhh? So you're not sure yourself? Next thing you know it's all just a rumor." Said Hika with a defeated expression.

*Bump* without noticing Hika had bumped into a stranger turning a corner.

"Heheheh, my, my, did you lose your focus as well?" Chuckled Eva.

"Shut up Eva! Sorry about that."

"No problem, miss." The stranger had said as he continued on his path.

Looking back at the stranger, he seemed to be a visitor judging from his long black coat.

"What's up Hika?"

"Nothing."

Hika faced forwards again and continued down the hall.

'Was it my imagination or have I heard that voice from somewhere?'

'It's that girl again…'

After approaching a wooden door, Ashura entered the doorway and was noticed by a man next to a table. The man was dressed in indigo suit suit and working away on a stack of papers on his desk, answering a phone, and rummaging through a drawer.

"What can I help you with?" The man asked.

"I have an appointment with…the headmaster."

"Your name please…sir?" The man glazed over Ashura with suspicion.

"Ashura."

"I'll be right with you, sir." The man said to Ashura. "Reyna! We have a guest!"

"That's not even my job… Plus I don't know about you but meditation is important for light users." A voice came down from a long hallway. A girl short hair the same colour as sun bleached skin appeared. A short side pony tail ran down the left side of her head and laid on top of her shoulder while she was dressed in the same manner as the girls earlier, a purple blazer over a white shirt held together by a black tie while a white frilled miniskirt went over her black pantyhose. Her eyes narrowed as they met with Ashura's eyes.

"Right this way senpai (upperclassmen)." Leading Ashura into the hallway.

The girl walked behind him, watching quietly. The two eventually reached a pair of polished wooden double doors.

"Headmaster! You have a visitor." The girl yelled before the doors and soon stepped aside.

After a moment of silence the door flew inwards and a women in an opened collared black business suit stepped forward and yawned next to Ashura. Her long black hair blended in with her attire while one could presume she was in her late-twenties. Opening her black pupils and almost making contact with Ashura's face, she immediately hopped back.

"Whoops, I wasn't expecting a visitor so soon. I hope I didn't disgust you with my manners."

"It's fine. I'm just here to get a few things out of the way about the job." Replied Ashura.

"Ah you must be the new instructor. Come have a seat where we can talk in private."

The room was lusciously decorated and held numerous books and binders within the many bookshelves. A small stack of papers and a cup of tea laid on the table.

"So you must be Ashura the rumored blackjack, am I correct?" Asked the so called headmaster.

"And you must be Headmaster…Amadeya." Responded Ashura.

"Yes." Headmaster Amadeya said as she poured a cup of tea. "The academy is need of a permanent replacement for one of our instructors who has left us recently. Of course you will be well compensated if you choose to accept, but you wouldn't be here if you didn't would you?"

"I expected the amount of compensation considering this is one of the few institutions in Japan which teaches how to survive the New World, but all you have told me is what I receive and not what I have to give." Ashura said as he narrowed his eyes.

"I will be going over them shortly, but most just accept the conditions before I even explained the requirements of an instructor." Said Amadeya said as she gave off a disappointed sigh. "Considering you saw through my tactic of choosing a replacement, I already have high hopes for you" A smile came across her face as she finished. "As a Neos Academy instructor, you must be able to teach students the skills they need for survival in this ill-fortuned world. You may be required to teach hand to hand combat, weapons training, auram manipulation, skill utilization, outdoor survival, etc. It all depends from the classes you are assigned to. I'm sure a man of your reputation could take on those tasks and it's not like you will be teaching every single one of those subjects that I have listed, just pick from what is available in the staff lounge." Said headmaster Amadeya as she gave a faint smile.

"Sounds a little too good to be true. If it is easy as you say, then why did all of those earlier applicants fail your standards?" Replied Ashura as he crossed his fingers in front of his mouth.

"You're sharper than you look, but I expect no less from the man known as Blackjack."

"Those are merely rumors milady, and exaggerations are often the reason to why they spread." Ashura calmly replied.

"Normally we would have professor candidates take the standard instructor exam before they are welcomed into the academy, but I'll exempt you temporarily from the exam since you are a war veteran. Well you could take this time as a temporary instructor to see your potential students and check out the place if it's to your liking."

"Strange, I didn't hear anything about this from the veteran affairs guys."

"Consider it…, job benefits and forging of a new relationship."

"Mhmm." A skeptical Ashura turned away.

"Give me a call if you have any inquiries. Mr. Ashura." Headmaster Amadeya called out with a cute voice.

"Oh, I almost forgot your future classroom is A3." She yelled out just before Ashura closed the door.

"Quite an interesting player you are, Mr. Blackjack." She whispered to herself.

Ashura stepped out of the academy office and into the empty hallways. The empty walls gave off a barren feeling to the academy. As he passed a classroom, a long blacked haired woman was teaching before a class of twenty-five students. Some students looked away from the teacher and glanced over him. A sign written with the letters A1 above the door. Another door adjacent was adjacent to the classroom he passed by. Peeking inside, coats and bags laid on the chairs and tables, yet the room was absent of any people. Approaching a classroom with A3 written on the sign above, sounds of conversation can be heard through the door, yet it was not loud enough to which words could be overheard. Gripping the door handle, a white powder fell into the top of his view.

"Hmm?"

Looking up, a chalkboard eraser was about to slip from the door's cracks. Stepping to the left and aggressively pulled open the door. The chalkboard eraser smacked against the floor, creating a large cloud of dust.

"Gotcha!...Huh?" A teenage voice called out.

A student walked towards the entrance. Ashura walked in as the male student peeked out the door and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"I assume you're the perpetrator of that shenanigan, mind cleaning that up?"

"Uh…, sure…" The student answered in a monotone voice.

Absent of light, his eyes entered a trance like stare as he cleaned up the dust. The class of student were bewildered as to what has happened before their eyes. In the classroom the number of chairs and desks could be estimated for twenty students, yet only ten students could be seen in the room. A large desk in the front corner of the room could be seen. The walls were as barren as the hallways, however unlike the school hallways, they were old, damaged, and had dust thick as paint. Giving an undetectable signal to the student cleaning up the dust with his eyes, the student fixated his eyes on Ashura and returned to his supposed desk. Walking towards the large desk at the front of the classroom, two pairs of eyes eventually recognized Ashura from his dark long coat. Dressed in a black uniform with combat boots, a female student with marine blue twin tails spoke.

"Excuse me sir, visitors are prohibited entry to instructional facilities."

Taking the seat by the desk before responding calmly. "I am the new professor for this class."

"How come the headmaster didn't tell us anything about you as our new professor?" A female student with a set of red twin tails called out.

"Since I will be formally starting as your professor tomorrow, she has tasked me with greeting the class and introducing myself to you all." Ashura announced as he made eye contact with the students present in his room. Yet unknown to them, Ashura surveyed their appearance in the same moment.

As if triggered an alarm in her mind, the girl connected Ashura's voice to the player who had knocked her unconscious the other day.

"You're that merc from two days ago weren't you?"

"I beg your pardon?" Replied Ashura.

"You're the one who knocked me out and carried me to your shady compound!" The girl exclaimed as she stood up.

Surprised expressions and whispers started to spread across the room like wildfire. Ashura merely looked unshaken and responded with "You must have mistaken me with someone else.

How about we start off with some introductions." The red twintailed girl continued to press on her questions onto Ashura but the blue haired student held her back and said "I am Illiyana, this right here is Hika."

"Come on Hika, first impressions are everything. Don't make such a scene already on the first day."

Holding back her questions, Hika quietly muttered "It must have been someone else…sensei (teacher)."

"How about you? With the ruffled brown hair." Ashura called to the teenager who had been cleaning up the chalk dust.

Breaking out of his trance, the young student hesitated at Ashura's question.

"uhh…Huh?"

"I was asking for your name, young man."

"Ummm…It's Jirou."

"That is a fine name, but I recommend not overloading the eraser with so much dust next time."

Surprised how he had returned to his seat, he began whispering to the students around him.

"Alright next."

One by one names and introductions flowed across the room.

"How come only ten of you are here today?"

The students looked either to each other or focused their eyes to the ground.

"The previous professor quit after joining our class for two weeks."

"Is that the reason for the depression flooding the room?"

"No, more like we are the ones directly responsible for making them quit." Illiyana responded.

"What? Are you guys that much of a handful?" Leaning back on his chair.

"Sensei you said you're our new professor, but you haven't introduced yourself yet."

"Ah my apologies. I am Ashura-sensei and I am a blademaster."

A man in a black school suit arrived at the door.

"Mr. Ashura there are still administrative papers that need to be completed."

"Very well, behave yourselves, be present and ready to learn for tomorrow. Dismissed." Ashura reminded as he left the classroom.

"Did you know him Hika?" A student asked.

"How did you know him? Another asked.

"Are you two related?"

Recalling Hayate's words, Hika replied "No, I just mistook him for someone else I knew."

"Really?"

"You're lying."

"Sounds suspicious…"

"Come on, everyone let's just move on to something else." Illiyana intervened.

"But seriously Hika, who is he?" Illiyana whispered.

"I told you already."

"Who? The MERC who saved my poor Hika?" Illiyana jested.

"I'm not your Hika." Retorting back with a pout.

"Heh heh that face never ceases to be adorable." Giggled Illiyana. "But he doesn't seem as bad as you described him to be."

"Oh please, you only saw him for a few minutes. I actually can't wait for Kaiden to show up and then it's bye bye MERC!"

"It doesn't seem like you know very well either. Didn't you say you only interacted with him once?"

"So, I don't care. Of all people to try out as a professor he has to show up."

"Wow, usually you would be the one trying get them to stay."

"Well it's different this time. And…" The school bell rang. "Is it lunch already? Aw man, I forgot my lunch today."

*Sigh* "I'll share mine with you. But you owe me for this."

"Here are you quarters Ashura-San." The man from the academy faculty staff stated.

Ashura stepped into a dim room containing a work desk, a small lamp, a traditional bed, and a tall bookshelf.

"Not bad… Considering how well preserved the furniture are. Thank you for the tour. Give my regards to the headmaster."

After the member of the staff left, Ashura began surveying the furniture. A glint of light was sparkling from behind the translucent curtains. Stepping towards the window. Pulling apart the curtains, the bright light flooded the room, revealing the maroon coloured walls. The glint was changed to a bright mirror coming from a bush.

"You surprise me with your speed sometimes, I assume you haven't been caught." Ashura called out to the bush.

"Come on Shura I moved your stuff here and still not a hello?" Hayate joked.

After dusting and rearranging the furniture Ashura leapt from the windowsill.

"How much of my stuff did you sneak in?"

"Not a whole lot, didn't think the security would be so tight for a school. I don't ya can get your hands on a lot of yer stuff back at the compound."

"Well, you brought what you could. So…uh…thanks."

"Look we're not leaving you out here to rot. We'll be back, just take some R&amp;R (rest and restoration) from all the fieldwork. Can't work properly wen yer head can't even think straight. I'll see ya later."

"Hah…" Ashura sighed as Hayate left. "I hope the headmaster won't mind some lawn work."

In a certain dorm, a student laid on top of his bed. Although the sunlight penetrated the window slits, the student's face was hidden away in the shadow. The cluttered dorm seemed as it was ransacked. The door creaked open, revealing a brown haired student.

"Hey, Jirou. Haven't seen you in a while." A soft voice came from the student.

"Another one arrived today…Kaiden."

"So, what's the occasion?"

"This one seemed different...like…like, he tapped my shoulder today and then my mind went blank. And then somehow I felt like woke up at my desk but I don't remember how I got there.

"Haven't heard of that one before?"

"Like I still can't get over what happened. I ask the guys around me and they said I just moved around like I was in a trance."

Kaiden's eyes began to create an eerily red glow in the darkness.

"Looks like I'll be going to class tomorrow then."

The sunrise shone bright orange into the classroom. Ashura stepped into the empty room with a leather document bag. Dressed in the same black uniform as the faculty staff yesterday, he resembled a businessman ready to sell off his ideas. Not long after entering the classroom, a teenage girl dressed in a sleeveless white blouse, black knee length socks, and black leather boots walked into the room.

"Is there a special event involving a change in uniform?" Ashura asked the girl.

Turning to face Ashura her loosely knotted purple tie swept across the air as she moved her body. Looking over Ashura and noticing he had been wearing the standard staff uniform she replied "Hmm, you must be the new professor I've been hearing rumors about right? Well today is a combat training day. Didn't the faculty tell you?"

'The staff yesterday did gave me a bunch of stuff to look over. That new room did take more time to set up than I thought.'

"I don't believe I have gotten to it last night with all the clear in procedures to my room. But I'll just make due for today with this on. Were you here yesterday? I don't recall seeing your face in the crowd."

"Gomenasai (Sorry) sensei, a lot of the class pretty much just skips most of the days after Suki-sensei left. Didn't want to waste our time just loitering in an empty class. Plus the other professors were too busy with their own classes to teach us. By the way my name is Seleni, nice to meet you sensei."

"Doesn't the headmaster get upset when you guys do that?"

"It doesn't matter to the academy since we're the ones paying to attend the school. To be honest we're the ones being held back, some of us wanted to create a proposal to extend our time here by one semester since we are missing a professor for almost half a semester. Plus it's not like we just waste our time slacking off all the time, this place wrings the cash out wallets faster than player with the highest strength stat can wring water out of a towel."

"Well, let everyone in this class know that I am the new professor candidate and soon enough I will be an official professor for this academy. So stop skipping out on class."

"Yes, yes." Seleni replied as she flicked her brunette hair and headed back to her seat.

Sitting down on his leather chair, Ashura looked over the papers he received last night. One by one the students filled the room. Contrary to the girls, the male students wore a white short sleeved dress shirt under a light lavender long overcoat with purple rimmed edges along with indigo coloured baggy pants. However their black combat boots remains the similar in design. After all students have been seated, Ashura rose from his seat and began to address the class.

"My, my I haven't even started teaching and there is already whispering. Anyways we will be proceeding to the-" Before he could finish another student dashed into the class and drew out a dagger towards Ashura. Just avoiding the attack by leaping back Ashura drew his rapier from belt holster. The assailant rebounded off the window and switched from a reverse grip from his right hand to a normal slash with his left. The two blades crashed into each other, causing sparks to fly.

"And you are?"

"Kaiden…sensei." The assailant proclaimed as he retreated back.

"What's the meaning of this?"

"Oh, I thought we were starting in the gym. But no one was there, so I thought we were changed it to the classroom."

"…So is it a duel you seek?" "Eh?" Surprised words came from the students.

"Points for originality with the warm-up though."

Even Kaiden was astonished with Ashura's reply. Closing his eyes for a moment and responded with "Looks like you got my message."

'Yeah right' 'As if' could be read from some of the student's expressions.

Looking towards the class, the students immediately avoided contact with Ashura's eyes.

"Hmph, looks like I'll have to get the answers from you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Lead the way then Mr. Kaiden."

"With pleasure." As Kaiden spoke a faint smirk climbed onto the sides of his mouth

Author's Notes

I am sorry if you have been held up by this story. I know that's not a lot of you guys but I just want to let everyone, this summer I was sent away for military training so no internet what so ever, but I'm back for more so stay tuned. Also chapter 7 will be a special chapter, its not part of the current timeline of the plot so far but it is an important part of the story. Hopefully I can post it before November if not the first week of November. This chapter should be a lengthy read if you found the previous chapters to be short. If you have any queries, concerns, or suggestions you could always message me or give the story a review.


	8. Volume 1 Prologue

**Prologue**

2036 A.D. September 19th, 1735hrs

The leaves moved gently with the whispering wind. A crimson liquid flowed down the side of a young man's head while his body soaked in red. Cladded in thick brown leather, his short brown hair brushed the cold smooth face behind him. His vision bobbled and blurred as a high pitched ring in the silence left his head. Back against a rock, a sword sat beside his motionless body. Written near the bottom his vision, Kawamura Shun. The borders of his vision existed a faint red glow, brightening and darkening, brightening and darkening, as if his heart was pulsating like a warning light. An enormous centaur wielding a broad scimitar stood before him, it's seething red eyes gave away the impression of a predator and it's prey was the male before it. Steam poured out of it's enlarged nostrils as it's hoofs scraped the dirt. A horizontal red bar was draining away towards the left. Without warning the bull dashed towards the man. Gritting his teeth, picking up the sword, and charged towards the oncoming bull. "Final stroke!" The man screamed as his blade left a trail of yellow light in it's wake. The wind stood motionless. The man collapsed to the grass filled countryside, unloading his blood onto the land. The bull stood peerless and unharmed, it's torso slid off it's pelvis, fading into countless particles as it fell, spreading into the night sky. The soft winds blew across the green plains lit up by the bright moonlight as it's lower legs fell backwards.

A yellow square icon appeared beside the red bar, a red droplet was inscribed in it's center. 'VICTORY' a holographic window with another icon of an object was displayed in the center. The man struggled to press the accept button with his finger. *Ding*

"Damn, I thought I could go further than this…" The man whispered to himself as the red gauge drained away.

Just like the bull his body soon faded away, like the dust before the wind.

"Aww man, can't believe I got beaten by such a weak boss." A voice came from a teenage male.

"At least, he left me some good spoils." He continued.

Removing a device that covered his eyes and ears with stretchable straps wrapped around and over his head. Pressing a button on his chrome coloured belt, a screen in front displayed the words 'GAME OVER' with a question 'Respawn?' as well as an option of yes and no.

"Shun! I'm hungry! Hurry up and make dinner!" A high pitched voice called out.

"Alright, alright…" The teenager shouted in response as he exited the room.

An icon appeared at the top right of the screen. 'New update available…downloading…installing… complete.'


	9. Chapter 9: New World

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%;"strongChapter 9: New World/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%;"January 11supth/sup, A.D. 2039/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I need to duel someone." Caeden proclaimed in his upright position on his bed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""But you're wound isn't healed up yet! Just take it easy until you're better." Jiro replied as he supressed Caeden from getting off his bed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I can't waste any more time laying around on a bed. The more I wait, the more my skills will dull."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I'm pretty sure that's not how it works Caeden."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Whatever, I need to get stronger Jiro!" Shouted Caeden as he shoved Jiro's arm away, colliding with his face in the process./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Jiro…"/p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""I guess I show myself out then." Jiro concluded as he left the room./p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%;"January 15supth/sup, A.D. 2039/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Hey looks like fresh meat showed up at our doorstep boys." A burly man covered in a mix mash of metal plating, leather chest piece wielding a tarnished steel mace exclaimed./p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""I'll gladly end you scum for stealing from the chief's office." Cladded in his fur armor and shell layered armor, Caeden replied and readied his sabers./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Oh look if it isn't the fake warlock, are you here make us scum to our tears in pity?" Another voice added./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"An angry smirk ran through Caeden's face as he charged his adversaries. *Ring* "I'll let my blades answer that for you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"January 13supth/sup, A.D. 2039/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"*Crash* dust flown into air as Caeden struck the ground./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Ngh…" Rolling back onto his arms and legs in pain/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""My win again." A familiar feminine voice declared with her blades burning in the background./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"*cough* "One…more…time…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""The result will still be the same no matter how hard you try. A blademaster like yourself will never be able to best a warlock of the same level."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"Lifting his view off the ground, Hikari stood dominantly before him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Tch…stop lying to me…and fight!" Caeden roared./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""I've come all this way without needing the elements, what makes you any different from the elementalists and warlocks I have fought?!" With each word Caeden shouted his wild slashes were blocked by Hikari's swords./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""You've reached the limit with your swordsmanship!" Hikari shouted back and forcing Caeden's sabers out of his hand, landing beside his rear shadow. Stumbling backwards, he tumbles to the ground without a word. With sad eyes, Hikari turns and walks away, enveloping Caeden with her shadow./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"January 15supth/sup, A.D. 2039/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;" "I'll show you! I'll show you all, being a warlock means nothing!"/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Inside the classroom a group of four students, Selene sat on her chair near the front asleep while other three stood by their desks talked amongst themselves. Within the group of students were Illiyana and Hikari./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Class feels more empty than usual…" Illiyana said./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""A lot of our classmates already put in a request to be switched to a different class." A student with a red scarf and a pair of green headphones had replied./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Have you guys seen Jirou recently? I saw him going out of the southern city borders a few days. I hope nothing bad has happened to him." Illiyana said worriedly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Speaking of which, Caeden also disappeared lately. I haven't seen him in the gymnasium at all." Hikari added./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Oh no, it's almost time for my lecture. Later!" The student wrapped in the red scarf leaped out of the window./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Ashura walked into the room, placing a bag of objects and his document bag behind his wide desk./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Good morning sensei." All but Hikari greeted Ashura/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Good morning class." Ashura responded stoically./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Today we will be covering the basics of weapons and quality identification. You will-"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Hikari walked up to Ashura. "You wouldn't happen to know where Caeden has gone to, do you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I do not, why do you insist that anything that happens with him automatically involves me?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Because after you defeated him in the duel, he's been recklessly engaging in duels with other students and players. I'm done wasting my time with a professor that thinks none of their students." Hikari left the classroom without looking back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Sorry sensei, I'll go and have a talk with her." Illiyana added before leaving the classroom as well./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""So much for the taking the initiative..., I guess I'll work on the project for the day then."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"*Sniff, sniff* "Ngh…, is that metal that I smell?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Well now sleepy beauty you seem to have a great nose."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Heh, heh sensei called me beauty. But wait I smell…a metal…one that I don't normally smell." Selene exclaimed as she rushed towards the direction of Ashura's bag./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Hey now, that's classified stuff." Ashura said as he obstructed Selene./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I bet you're looking for a place to refined those ores." Selene replied with a smirk./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Why do you say they are ores?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Well, judging from your response as well as the smell of minerals mixed with the metal. I can safely assume they are ores. So, how about it? Tell me what they are and where you got them from, in return I'll show you to the academy workshop./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Throw in that you will keep the location a secret plus helping me with the refining process, and we can call it a deal." Ashura negotiated./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Deal!" Selene exclaimed, extending her hand out in the process./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Ashura accepted her handshake./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I would have refined for free in your place sensei."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Who knows if you would do it correctly."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Geez, I'll have you know my crafting level is forty-four!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""This metal needs a crafting level of at least fifty to have a sixty percent chance of success."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Seriously?!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Opening the bag deep purple crystals protruding out of a rock gave off a metallic shine./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""That…can't be! Is that…Cosmicite!?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""It is."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Quickly grabbing her belongings from her desk, Selene ran out into the hallway./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Come on sensei, what are you waiting for?!" Shouted Selene before she ran off./p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"'Well, at least I got one student now…'/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Here Selene-san, go nuts. I remembered I had an errand to take care of today."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Oh, uh ok." Selene takes the bag of ore from Ashura./p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"A player with a scimitar charged towards Caeden, but was evaded by a side step and the player received a stab that followed into a laceration in return. "Ahh!" A player with a tall shield proceeded to thrust his lance but deflected to the ground by Caeden's body weight as he leapt on top of the lance. "Shield Assault!" As a last resort the lancer bashed his shield forward with all his might. Using the player with a scimitar as a kick-off platform, Caeden somersaulted over the advancing 'shield assault', however a third player with an axe struck Caeden's sabers in mid-flight, forcing him into the ground with a loud slam./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Hargh!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Got you now, dead meat!" The axe player yelled out before pulling back for a second chop./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I don't think so!" Pulling his legs towards his body and pushing off with his arms, Caeden kicked his legs and striking the face and chest of the axe player. Barely missing Caeden's body the axe splits the earth beside Caeden's chest. The body of axe player collides with the lancer. Causing him stumble backwards for a brief moment./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Shuugeki!" Leaping forward between the players, Caeden swept both of his blades to the sides, launching away the two players./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Blood decorated the floor and wall surrounding Kaeden. Groans and whimpers of pain came the beaten bodies. More players could be seen on the floors above. Some hesitant while others itching for battle./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Tell me where _ is!" Caeden shouted./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Well, if it isn't the brat. I wondering what the commotion was all about. "/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I finally found you bastard, and it's time to pay up." Caeden announced with heavy breaths./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Big barks mean for nothing in this world, if you've got something prove then prove it with your moves!" Retorted a low masculine voice./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""It's now or never Nikenshiko!" The veins coursed with a red glow in Caeden's sabers. The white edges of the sabers pulsated with a dim crimson radiance akin to Caeden's eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Ready for more huh? Then take it!" A figure leaped from a platform towards Caeden./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"A spiked metal club was stopped by Caeden's sabers. A brown bearded man was holding onto the club with a scar that ran across his left cheek. Leaping back, the metal club crashes against the ground. The man quickly swipes upwards with the club, however Caeden twists his body to the side causing the club to whiff. '"Hiyah! Whirling blades!" With arms outstretched, the sabers slashed towards the man. The metal armguard was sliced in two and brought forth a streak of crimson fluid. The metal club quickly swept towards Caeden, striking his abdomen despite his effort to block with his right saber and sent his body towards a pile of pipes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Hmph, how weak you have become in such a short time. Just when I thought some entertainment showed up at my doorstep."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Cheers began to ensue from the beaten players. Under extreme pain, his body collapsed after multiple attempts to return to his feet./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Serves you right!" "There's no way you can beat Grey!" "Show him how it's done Grey!"br / "Give it up kid, there's no way you can beat me at your current state." Said Grey./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""No, it's no over yet…It ain't close to being over!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"A surge of energy exploded within Caeden. A veil of aura encircled his body and rose as if he never received any injuries./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"'Rekta activated: Rising Soul' Appeared on Caeden's heads up display./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Rising soul huh? You know there's no point in beating me if you're going to burn out halfway."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"'Rising soul, a last resort strengthening rekta that allows the user to fight until their bodies physically cannot continue by numbing their sense of pain and redirecting all reserve energy to the muscles and specific organs such as the brain and the heart, however the user will receive great pain and tremendous fatigue when it's effects expires.'/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;" Neon reddish-orange trails of light began to encircle around Grey./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""We'll see about that…" Whispered Caeden behind Grey./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""…!" Grey with a frustrated expression as he turned to his back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"A quick uppercut followed by a downward slash with both sabers easily sliced through the back of Grey's armor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Missing Caeden by a centimeter with his club, Caeden proceeded to anchor his body with his blades as he performed a sweeping kick and knocking Grey off balance. Transferring the momentum of his legs into his arms, the dual sabers slammed into Grey's body with brutal force, however the cuts were rather shallow as opposed to his armor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""…?" During the hesitation between Caeden's assault Grey retaliated with a punch to Caeden's arms followed by a swing of his metal club, slamming him into a concrete column./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Haaa…." With no air to push out a yell of pain, a pained sigh was all he could muster./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Despite his attempts to pick up his sabers, his trembling hands could no longer make a move./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""You did well to get this far for a blademaster, but there's no way you will beat a warlock like me. I'd imagine the only thing keeping you awake right now is your survive rekta. Now then, farewell kid..."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Dusk to dawn, dawn to dusk, no pain will be felt, no joy will be held, all shall fall silent before the cover of darkness. First darkness of the exalts, night…" A wave of black encased both Caeden and Grey/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""…fall." A black figure appears behind Grey./p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;""Ngh…" Both collapsed to the ground./p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Plains of greenery stretched as far as the eye could see. A gentle wind blows the wisps of clouds across the night sky, with the moonlight clouded. A young man laid on the grass, eyes closed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Where…am I? Have I…died?" Caeden asks as he opens his eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""It's much too early for your place here…Caeden." A voice called out./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Pulling his head up to find the source of the voice, a brown haired girl stares towards the horizon in a white frilly dress./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Milla? Wait what do you mean? What is this place?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""All will be answered with time…" A smile came from the girl in the white dress as a bright circle of light rose from the horizon./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Nghh…" Blocking the light with his arms./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Huh?" An image of a tree came into view./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Attempting lift his upper body into sitting position his arms began to ache and throb in pain. Thus causing him to fall backwards in pain./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Hmm? So you're awake." A low familiar voice came from above his vision./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Tilting his head backwards a black cladded Ashura came into view./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Why are you here?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I had something to pick up nearby and I saw a student of mine enter a suspicious ruin of a factory."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Why did you interrupt my fight?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Your fight? Did you mean your loss?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""If I could move right now, I would have punched your face by now."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""A great way to repay your saviour I must say."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Why are you wasting your time with such a failure of a warlock?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Is that what this is all about? You had to find _ of all people to prove your superiority or otherwise you can't be a student? If you are being bullied, there are easier ways to go out."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""That's not the point!...People I used to know had such great hopes for me, even when I found out my low affinity towards elements and the impossibility being a successful elementalist or warlock even, I still honed my skills on being the best blademaster in the academy. But what's the point of becoming the greatest blademaster in the academy if I will always be inferior to warlocks?!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Answer me!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I don't particularly enjoy seeing potential go to waste."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""You know, this is an awful time for jokes."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I already feel bad for the professors who taught you previously. It's true I have no doubts with you being the worst warlock in the academy, however…you must also be the worst idiot in the school as well. You may be lacking in a certain field and other aspects that you accel at may not be combat useful, but there will always be a field where only you will accel in."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""So why am I the worst idiot?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Because only idiots fail to recognize their own talents." Ashura replied as he stood up./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Now let's return to the academy, I can't babysit you forever."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Dumbstruck for a moment Caeden remarked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Now you're starting to sound like a real prof, but I think I'm going to lay here for a bit longer."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Suit yourself, I have work to tend to."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I thought you had to babysit me."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""You're a half kilometer from town, unless a warwolf comes along, I doubt they will be any harm to you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"After checking his surroundings, a group of buildings stood in the distance./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""But…it's not that simple…sensei."/p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"'I've only said half the story.'/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Opening the door to his room Hayate sat in a chair as if waiting for his return./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""I'd imagine things went well?" Hayate asked with a smile./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""More like it almost went FUBAR." Closing the door with his right hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Ngh…" Ashura groaned in pain as he stumbled to his bed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Seriously Shura?! I've told ya not to keep using it. Ow that's hot!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""No choice for that. There was a whole bunch of them this time."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Stay there! I'll go and get you some ice crystals!" Hayate commanded as he leapt out the window./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Herrggghh…" Trying his hardest to suppress the cries of pain./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Outside the door, a fist stopped before making contact with the door./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"'Huh? What's going on? Should I go in?'/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"A red bordered yellow figure in a world of blue entered into Ashura's right eye./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Is someone there?" Ashura called out./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"The entity quickly left Ashura's sight./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;""Damn, what terrible luck I've got."/p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 8.0cm; line-height: 200%; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: dotted windowtext 3.0pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"END/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Author's notes/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 8cm; line-height: 200%; border: none; padding: 0cm;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-indent: 36.0pt; line-height: 200%;"Hey everyone final chapter for volume 1, I would like to thank for bearing with the poor grammar since I wanted to post it as soon it was finished even if English is my second language. If you're a stickler for proper English, I will be posting an undated version of this chapter in the proceeding week. For those reading, how's the novel going so far? Too fast? Too slow? Too awkward? Would enjoy some reviews or feedback so I can improve the next volume. Epilogue will be coming to wrap this volume up. Please spread the word if you really enjoy it span style="font-family: Wingdings;"J/span. Be on the lookout for the next volume Project New World: Conquest/p 


End file.
